Do You Take Care of Your Faith? 

by Stacey Smith

Now faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God. (Romans 10:17) So having faith is directly related to listening to the word of God. The Apostles were able to listen to the word of God by physically listening to Jesus speak so you would think their faith would be very strong, but lets look at what happens here:  

Immediately He made the disciples get into the boat and go ahead of Him to the other side, while He sent the crowds away. 23 After He had sent the crowds away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray; and when it was evening, He was there alone. 24 But the boat was already a long distance from the land, battered by the waves; for the wind was contrary. 25 And in the fourth watch of the night He came to them, walking on the sea. 26 When the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were terrified, and said, "It is a ghost!" And they cried out in fear. 27 But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, "Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid." 28 Peter said to Him, "Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water." 29 And He said, "Come!" And Peter got out of the boat, and walked on the water and came toward Jesus. 30 But seeing the wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, "Lord, save me!" 31 Immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and took hold of him, and said to him, "You of little faith, why did you doubt?" 32 When they got into the boat, the wind stopped. 33 And those who were in the boat worshiped Him, saying, "You are certainly God's Son!" 

Matt. 14: 22-33

 And He said to them, "Because of the littleness of your faith; for truly I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, `Move from here to there,' and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you.  

Matt 17:20

 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith...  

Heb. 12:2

In other words faith is measurable and He can help our faith grow from a state of less perfection to a state of more perfection. The verse we read earlier tells us that our faith can be strengthened or weakened by how much time we spend in the scripture. So we can be a person of little faith or a person of Great faith or somewhere in between. Our goal should be to constantly increase our faith. So, like Peter walking on the water should have done, we have to actively avoid the distractions that would turn the “focus of our lives” away from Jesus. Or, in our case, what the Scripture teaches about how we are to “live our lives.” We need to continuously guard our faith, care for it and build it up. The story is a warning to us that we should act upon.  

 So what are some actions we can take?

First, we need to be in the Scriptures daily. Like the Apostles received the word of God through Jesus, we receive the word of God through reading the bible. 

"and how from infancy you have known the Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. "

II Tim. 3:15-17

So the Scripture gives us input that we need to receive to build up our faith.

Second, while we’re receiving faith-building input from the scripture, we should limit faith-harming input from other sources like, for example, the Television, Satan’s one-eyed monster and the radio, things said by those around us, our peers, co-workers and friends. Are we savvy enough to filter what we’re told? Are we strong enough to avoid discussions we know the Lord wouldn’t want us to be a part of? Are we strong enough not to go places or take part in things that are detrimental to building up our faith? We should be if we’re serious about our faith.  

So this I say, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind, 18 being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart; 19 and they, having become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness. 20 But you did not learn Christ in this way, 21 if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus, 22 that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, 23 and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, 24 and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth. 25 Therefore, laying aside falsehood, speak truth each one of you with his neighbor, for we are members of one another. 26 Be angry, and yet do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, 27 and do not give the devil an opportunity. 28 He who steals must steal no longer; but rather he must labor, performing with his own hands what is good, so that he will have something to share with one who has need. 29 Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear. 30 Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31 Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. 32 Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you. 

Eph. 4:17-32

We don’t strengthen our faith by seeing how close we can come to sin. We don’t build up our faith by spending time socializing with non-Christians. Worldly activities chip away at our faith. The only way to grow in faith is by focusing more on Jesus, which means removing things that distract us from following Him from our lives. 

The Lord knows we are not as strong as we would like to be all the time. He saw there with Peter in the water that humans can be distracted. If your heart says you haven’t been protecting your faith as you should, now is the time to take action. Start “cleaning house” of worldly things today!